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 Posted: Sun May 31, 2020 1:06 am
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Luo Ibis | "The Outcast"
The ruins always held a significance of power to the clan, Luo's tengu half of the family used to inhabit the ruins long ago. Now it was a place of pilgrimage for those seeking to further their training despite the former residents of the temple. The Ibis branch were a superstitious bunch, finding meaning in any little thing. It was custom for those in the clan to make the trek to the old temple on foot, without aid of chakra to better themselves physically and to withstand the thin air of the mountains.
And so Luo climbed, traveling light and with his clan garb donned, talismans carried at the request of the priest. The elders saw an ill omen for worse things to come, balance was shifting and Luo was one of the few of the Clan born with human and yokai blood that been able to manipulate the Void. He followed the old crumbling steps, rocks chipping away as they fell to the valley below, for one of the winged as descent... Luo wasn't particularly fond of heights. He slipped on one step and scrambled to catch the edge as the ground gave way under the step. <********> He shouted, voice echoing over the howling gale as he for once became jealous of those winged bastards. He dangled for a moment with one hand, gripping the rock but soon managed to pull himself up and free onto solid ground once more. Heart pounding, the will to continue onward prevailed if only slightly. He grumbled then, what was the worth of the pilgrimage, and why without use of his skills? Not a warrior, Luo was more adept at weaving illusion and jutsu rather than putting himself to physical torment.
The wind made the journey harder as the path became more and more dilapidated as he went up further. The air was thin, difficult to breath as frequent breaks had to be done to maintain his strength. Dosojin were carved along the mountainside, representations of different deities of the Shinto faith were thought to have protected the roads. Now eroded with age and worn from the elements to show they were here for many, many years. As Luo climbed rocky outcroppings, he noticed the Ishidoro were remarkably intact. His mind was beginning to play tricks on him the closer he gotten to the temple, the presence of others was strong despite there was no one living nearby.
The world around him was beginning to fade between the realms of this one and the phantoms of the previous residents of the mountain. He saw the road of where it once was and then how it truly was, the ghosts of past pilgrims walking the pass he had to climb and the sky turning dark. The remaining corruption of them, so it lingers even now. Luo felt it, his mind fogging up with its influence and his skin tingling.
The elders spoke of a corruption, and I must endure it. The ruined path began to continue and wind up but the dilapidation was not so apparent and the road became whole. There was care to the path this high up, a confusing thing when he noted how horrible the path was on his way up. It was maintained to a point, or kept from its decay Luo thought.
The howling gale was no more, heavy air and it was easy to breath again without the extra labor. With a careful approach, Luo felt odd and out of place as he knew something was different here than the rest of the mountain with clear skies. Twilight speckled with gleaming stars and the moon hung in the sky, everything was different in such a short span of time as the phantoms of monks and priests were even more vivid now. Fatigue ravaged his body, the feel of his insides burning as the corruption ate at him as he was now growing faintly aware of what it truly was.
It was a haven of natural chakra that preserved this old temple in its own stasis, protecting it from the elements and preserving the memories of those who once called the temple home. He tried to interact with the phantoms but they were nothing more than recorded memories of the past, ghosts who went on and stuck in a loop. Even the time of day was a falsity, it had been morning when he left the villa and couldn't have been an hour or two past noon. He now understood what the elders meant by the corruption, an unnatural reservoir of this chakra and a persistent illusion stuck in time. The top of the mountain was rife with the ruins of what used to be a town along with its monastery, it was also when the phantoms began to portray a scene.
The ruins he saw were of the real world then the images of what they had been. Grand magnificent pagodas once stood along with homes and even a farm, now lay in rubble and ash where fire took over. The phantoms were here, endlessly replaying their lives and nearby the bones were shown. The only building left was the temple at the peak of the mountain, broken and battered but still standing. Luo could feel the intensity of this area, a chill down the spine as he kept to his iron will and continued up the steps. Skulls and bones, perfectly preserved Gorinto marked their graves for the repose of the departed.
He was beginning to hate this damn mountain and his clan. A headache persisted the closer he got, the white hot pain of what felt like his skull ready to tear and burst. The air was growing heavier the weaker he got, wind returned with a cold chill dropping. Limbs were stiff, laboring to move while the headache made it hard to focus thoughts, but still he continued to the gate of the temple. Massive wooden doors stood and creaked with age as they were pushed open, ash drifted in behind Luo as he heaved heavy breaths and staggered with each step into the source of this hell.
Inside it was a large open space, tatami mats and religious trinkets all across the floor. Luo stopped as he felt afraid for inside it was dark yet he could make out a detail that chilled him. Bodies lain kneeling toward the far end of the temple interior where once a statue stood and took up the entire interior of the temple of what was now defaced and broken into scrap. Much of the interior was burned, the temple had at once been set aflame but the illusions now haunted as glimpses of worship to an unknown god was once here and its motif now gone. Luo slowly walked in, inspecting the bodies as he saw they worn monk attire and some lain with a sword in the gut or broken glass vials near them. Suicide.
The phantoms of the monks flashed in Luo's mind as the pain hit him harder than before with a ringing of the ears. He fell to one knee, breathing heavy as he felt the mind slipping and his vision fading. Weaker he was getting, more painful the mental assualts as the words of the elder came through. The past are grave mistakes we must adhere to, to know and never make them again. There is a balance to maintain, we all have walked the mountain's pass and dare not speak of it.
Luo rose slowly as he fought through the growing fatigue and got to both feet as the stiffness in his limbs grew more. You will find it difficult to breath, see things that are not there. The temple was a tomb for the monks here, the statue was not of Buddha or any god he could make out from what remained of the ruined structure. What remained of the temple and its town was burned and purposely destroyed and even now it had some residual cling to the world. The monks here had killed themselves, all facing the destroyed statue that would've been at least twenty feet in height.
Far at the end, a lone man sat facing the skeletal remains of the monks and Luo staggered his way slowly to see closer. As he did, his blood ran hot and the headache worsened as he could now feel every pulse of his heart as it increased in pace. The natural chakra was assailing him he had come to realize, killing him while he saw hallucinations of those who once worshiped here. Still he kept going, stopping before the figure sitting in a chair that faced the mass of dead monks.
A man in Saimoto attire, the Ibis clan mon on each breast of his haori jacket. Yet this wasn't a human as the features of the creature was covered in patches of feathers, inhuman features of a beak, digitigrade legs and sharp talons on his hands. Luo dropped to his knees in shock, staring at the sunken eye sockets of the mummified corpse and then down at a silver pendent around the neck. It was a Tengu; Luo's own father of all things and he wore the symbol of Jashinism just above the broken shaft of a spear that remain lodged in the dead tengu's heart.
Jashin. His father was a priest, this he knew for years. But now he knew what others meant by cursed blood, what it was meant for what others said of how he fell. Luo only ever heard his mother speak of his devout ways to Buddha, not of his corrupted faith. Had he always been this way or had he turned sometime in his life?
You ARE a monster! A voice rang in the back of Luo's mind as he stared in disbelief while he pieced together everything. Begone you ******** demon, we don't serve your kind. He reached for the pendent, holding it in his fingers which became numb. Cursed blood this one is, this is our hope for the future? He could hear the voices of others so strongly now, their hurtful words ringing clear as if they were here now. Trickery of the mind, influence of this terrible place.
Luo hadn't felt so defeated as he began to blink away tears, phantoms still lingering in the temple as he saw the glimpse of his dad from the past. He stared at the eyes, the glaring red eyes flashed in his mind's eye before the illusion faded. Everything was starting to slip as reality and falsity blurred, emotion running high and in the deep end as he didn't want to believe the realization.
Luo left the pendent on the mummified corpse as he stood up and tried to focus himself. He bore the corruption of the temple for this long and the pilgramage was now complete. But it was only now the true test began to his will. Many of the clansmen came only to see the truth of the past, the error of their previous ways to know why they practice what is taught by the elders. And now it was apparent why it was all forbidden to speak of what was in the pilgrimage or face punishment of exile or death.
"So that is the secret you held, isn't it dad?" Luo said as he knelt on the tatami mat and pressed his hands together, a pouch of salt set before him and incense lit in a copper urn he had brought. Pain was all he felt now, his limbs were starting to fail him as his mind remain foggy still, voices of his past screaming. He never knew how strong the corruption really was until he came here. The very grounds were desecrated from what was once dedicated to another faith, now a heretical taint of forbidden arts leeched into the earth. It was all cursed, the taint of a seal let loose from the death of his own father, a forbidden seal tied to him.
"I've your sins to bare." Luo said softly, easing himself into a meditative state and didn't once release the genjutsu tearing at him. The trainining was little more than one of endurance, force of will and a test to withstand the corruption of the temple. But Luo would have to take it further, he wanted to banish his father's influece and his malevolent will over the temple. Of what he knew of that infamous symbol dangling from the demon's neck was one of death and decay, destruction and chaos. The balance of the elements here were askew and discord was all there was and Luo instead chose to become its vessel, to cleanse it all.
The pulsating power here was one that commanded his will to fall to its influence, to accept it and ease into it. He would have to reject the foreign chakra even as it began to slowly kill him and eat away at his will. It was no Yokai that controlled this temple nor was it any creature, but the will of a single man who gave his soul to a foul lord. A lord who sought to maintain a foothold in the world, to twist it and gain control over everything. Ironically the very thing Luo didn't put stock in would serve as the basis for the method of clearing the foul energy. Onmyodo was a philosophy and a teaching of balance and science, too much of either will tilt the scales unfavorably for the entierty of the world. And so, Luo's mind went numb and he meditated as he willingly drew in the natural chakra as the vision of fire overcame his mind's eye.
A pain in his chest came and fire burned all around, the shouts of words he could not make out rang as a gong sounded. Luo no longer felt pain in his body as he found himself standing in the temple, weightless and numb. It was all dark, the bodies here now absent and the evidence of the fire that consumed the temple was no more save for the statue was still the same. It was there at the end of the temple a tengu stood with wings unfurled, staff in hand chanting in a tongue unknown to Luo as black energy swelled from him. The sound of fighting could be heard and Luo looked around, another illusion? It was all so... Real. The tengu turned with glowing red eyes and settled upon Luo, the silver pendent of Jashin gleaming in the low light.
"You tread in matters not your own, begone. Lest you be consumed by this madness." The creature spoke as Luo began to realize it was his father, an apparition created by his mind twisted and altered with the malevolent chakra he was taking in. Yet he was frozen with fear, unable to move or make sense of what was happening before Hayato snapped with the staff hitting the tatami with a resounding boom.
"Do you hear me? Luo? I said begone from this, you will be consumed by it." It was speaking to him, directly and now he didn't believe it. Luo stared back at his phantom father in a mix of fear and anger, he tried to make sense of his words as the scene began to blur.
"Why did you fall to it?" He said, almost shouting as the temple began to shudder with the pounding of the outside. Luo began to believe the illusion was true and all sense of reality slipped as he still meditated in the real world. "Tell me!" He shouted again, Hayato tilting its head and black chakra of Void flowed from its talons.
"Power. The world slips into a downfall and I was promised power." The creature explained as it held its hand toward Luo's direction, the crackling energy forming at its talontips "And all it got me was madness. But I've achieved power. I won't tell you again. Leave, Luo. " The chakra shot from Hayato and Luo breathed in as he held his own hand out with the same crackling black chakra forming as he shot off a bolt of Void. The two jutsu collided, erupting in the space between the father and son.
Both Luo and Hayato disappeared when their jutsu went off, feather stepping midway through the Shade Soul they each fired and now fought in melee. Luo had a spear in his hands, clashing with the tengu's staff as they sprang back from their initial engagement. He knew not where he acquired the spear but now Luo was only dead set using it to slay his father. Hayato waved his staff as the rings clattered together as the room began to distort itself, an illusion that rattled the eyesight as Luo countered with his own genjutsu with a handseal. While Luo find his sight twist and fade with the voices of the past screaming, the Tengu would see the world blacken and only be grabbed by the victims of his past and thrown to a dragon.
They clashed again, both dealing with their terrors during the fight as Luo adapted quickly while the Tengu broke free of the false world it was in. "All of that power and for what!? Why!" Luo shouted as he charged for a final assualt, taking a glancing blow from a wind blade jutsu he caused to miss by reflecting the visual genjutsu he was currently under back at Hayato with his sharingan. Hayato was blinded temporarily, now impaled as he grunted in pain as he fell into the chair staring back at Luo as he forced the weapon deeper into the demon.
"You're letting it consume you, Luo." Hayato said, reaching up to its pendent and stared back at his son. Struck in the heart and he still hadn't died. "This is all in your head, the mind creating a false reality of what you see. What it wants you to see.
Luo blinked as he was confused, he should have been dead? There were no words to detract from he wanted to do, to kill. Maim. To become stronger. Even now the Tengu lived and still spoke its lies, it fell to its foul and Luo was in the right. He had won.
But he hadn't, there wasn't a victory to be had here. Luo let go of the spear and the visions of the temple lapse of the real world and the false reality. The mummified remains of Hayato sat there, beak agape and then back to the undying one of the illusion. "I've almost let myself go, you're dead and have been for years." Luo said as he began to come to terms with the reality once more, Hayato didn't say anything then as the feathers began to molt away and blood flowed from the spear wound still stuck in him.
"Do what you must. Don't let it consume you, Luo." Hayato said as the tengu touched its pendent as red seals sprawled across its body before it released chakra in the air as the temple began to catch fire. The phantom died and the two worlds began to blend together again, the spear now broken and the apparitions of monks now in the temple were bowing before the creature. Luo looked around in confusion as he witnessed the mass suicide of the monks as the walls began burning with the shouts of the fighting outside growing louder. Bang. Bang. The doors pounded open, fire poured through and Luo woke up.
He screamed, loudly. The pain was back with the aches of earlier while the sensation of hot air hitting his skin. Luo scrambled off of the floor and turned to face the door expecting flames to consume him but saw nothing. The mind was sharp, clear save for the pounding headache and then he heaved a heavy sigh. It was all... back to normal. Yet, not. Luo could feel the air, the chakra and even the presence of those who lingered here. But no more was there the illusions, only the ghosts and hauntings of the past and then Luo looked at his hands, at himself.
Chakra flowed that was not his own, pure natural energy flowing within him and his senses were sharper now. Senjutsu, nature chakra. What the... Luo was in disbelief, he hadn't signed with the crows of the clan, he wasn't trained with the ways of the elders. Cursed? No. He held no seal upon his body, no marks that betrayed such heretical arts.
He was something else entirely, a human sage.
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